Friday, February 18, 2005

Seu Jorge, as Pelé dos Santos, translated, adapted, and performed eleven David Bowie songs for us in Portuguese. He sang on the decks of our ship, the Belafonte, while we where running at full steam on the open sea; he sang from the stage of an opera house in Naples; he sang on our studio sets at Cinecitta; and he played one song sitting on the roof of a lighthouse we had built next to a medieval castle. I tried to understand the Portuguese. Thinking on the lyrics in English, I asked, "Jorge, which word means 'cigarrette'?" because none of them sounded anything like it. He nodded and said something very poetic about friendship and hope and the future — but no 'cigarrette'. I took a minute and thought about this, and then I said "OK, but every once in a while add in a 'Rebel Rebel', will you?" I never read any complete translations, but in the end I am convinced that Jorge's words — and unquestionably his beautiful performances— captured the spirit of David Bowie's. Exactly what we were looking for.